The Darkest Legacy (Darkest Min - Alexandra Bracken Page 0,69

captures of their faces through the system. No records, though that database is almost five years old at this point.”

“Roman said they avoided being picked up, which I’m guessing also means they avoided being registered, too.”

“Or someone wiped their records,” Miguel said. “What’s their deal? How did you even link up with them?”

I gave them the details as quickly and matter-of-factly as I could, along with my theory that they might have been targeting Haven or Ruby and Liam all along. Another thought occurred to me. “You don’t have anyone here by the name of Lana, do you?”

The boys looked to Lisa.

“No,” she said. “I’ve been monitoring the tip lines these past few weeks and I haven’t seen that name come up at all. Do you know what she looks like? What ability she might have?”

I shook my head. “All I have is the name. They were talking about her in a way…their tone wasn’t malicious. If anything, they were both emotional about it. It didn’t seem like they were tracking her on behalf of someone else, either.”

“The mystery deepens,” Miguel said, glancing back at the screen. “Haven’s not a total secret to Psi. Word has been spreading a bit more recently. Maybe they just wanted to find a safe place for themselves?”

A thread of frustration wove through me. “Then why not tell me that from the start?”

Jacob shifted uncomfortably, silently communicating something to Miguel with a look. The boy read it and nodded.

“What?” I pressed.

“Think about it…” he said, not unkindly. “You work for the government. They could have been worried that, instead of telling them how to get here, you’d turn them over to the FBI or the Defenders for trying to dodge their monitoring system.”

I felt nauseous at the thought. “I wouldn’t do that. If they wanted to come here…”

You’d help them break the law?

It wasn’t…it wasn’t as simple as that. Nothing about our situation had ever been black-and-white; our lives were painted in shades of gray. I believed in giving kids choices, and in trying to protect them in whatever ways I could.

“Or,” Jacob added quickly, “it could be that they just didn’t think you’d believe them. Or that you’d shut down and refuse to say anything if they straight-up asked you. So maybe they came to the speech to try to ask you about it, and then they just got caught up in everything and figured you’d find your way here eventually?”

Lisa shook her head. “I don’t know….They repeatedly blocked her from going on her own.”

I took a deep breath. We needed to put this aside and move on. Not knowing what was going on with Ruby and Liam had created a pressure cooker inside my mind, and it was about to explode. “Are they okay to stay in there for a little while longer?”

“Yeah,” Lisa said. “I’ll send some food and water down for them.”

“And blankets,” I said. “In case…It gets cold at night, doesn’t it?”

The girl gave me a faint smile, nodding. She disappeared through the door, returning a few moments later.

“All right,” I said. “Now, who’s going to tell me what happened to Liam and Ruby?”

LISA SAT ON THE EDGE of the desk, crossing her arms over her chest. “I’m not even sure where to start. There wasn’t any indication something was wrong when they left. Liam seemed sort of upset, but I figured it must have something to do with the kid he was going to pick up—”

“Wait, they were both gone from Haven at the same time?” I interrupted. “When did they change that policy?” As far as I remembered, they’d decided early on that one of them would always stay at Haven so the kids would have at least one constant in their lives.

“Miguel, Jacob, and I can take care of things here,” Lisa said. “We fill in when the situation calls for it.”

Miguel leaned back in his chair, swiveling more fully toward the rest of us. “It’s a recent thing, in any case. I don’t think either of them liked it, but splitting up let them cover more ground and rescue more kids.”

“They didn’t leave together?”

The three of them exchanged looks that made the hair rise on the back of my neck.

“Tell her,” Jacob said, finally. “Neither of them would feel like it’s betraying their trust. It’s Zu.”

Lisa didn’t look entirely convinced. That sharp pang hit me again.

I don’t belong here. I’m not one of them.

Ruby and Liam were no longer mine, not the way they had been